Editor's Note

Letters to the Future

Our cover story this week is a package of letters from local and national notables addressing climate change timed to coincide with the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris the first two weeks of December. I've mentioned in previous Editor's Notes importance of learning our history, so based on that history it's hard to not be cynical about the conference. Will the conference result in a global treaty to reduce the impacts of global warming? I wish I was optimistic.

We've had so many opportunities to turn the tide, but the small agreements that happen here and there never seem to be enough. Will something like Letters to the Future help? Probably not.

I'm pretty sure, in the end, those who believe in climate science (emphasis on science, people), the project will only make us feel better. I know for me, thinking of my son's children—besides apologizing to them for the Marvel-themed names my son will give them—I hope their future isn't anything like what my cynical-heart imagines.

I hope it defies everything terrible I often feel about us being imperfect humans. They, of course, to me, will be perfection—as all children are—but I hope the leaders who come together next month not only get it right, but perhaps lead us to get on the same page.

Wouldn't it be great if solved this crisis and figure out a way to live in peace? Saving the planet and being our own superheroes, just like the one's my son loves. Let's start making our capes and throw cynicism out the door. They're depending on it.